Supreme Judge

“ I knew an eminent and learned Judge of the Supreme Court in Washington, who used to say that he would never bend his knees to any human being, and that to the Almighty God alone would he ever do homage. ”

“ The supreme court shall have a general superintending control over all inferior courts of law. It shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certiorari, and other original remedial writs, and hear and determine the same. The supreme court shall have power to decide upon and annul any laws contrary to the provisions of these articles of compact, and whenever called upon by the House of Representatives, the supreme judge shall give his opinion touching the validity of any pending measure. ”

“ The people were at the mercy of their creatures. The Constitutions of England, of Massachusetts, of Pennsylvania, authorized the removal of an obnoxious judge on a mere address of the legislature, but the Constitution of the United States had so fenced and fortified the Supreme Court that the legislature, the Executive, the people themselves, could exercise no control over it. ”

“ That the Court should have succeeded in maintain- ing itself in the confidence and respect of the people in the face of such constant assault is a remarkable tribute to its ability, integrity, independence, and impartiality, and a sign of popular belief in its pos- session of those qualities. For as an eminent State Judge has well said : "Judicial decisions upon the rights, powers, and attributes of the General and State Govern- ment, wherever the Constitution is silent, will often form a topic of much feeling and interest to the people, and of great moment to the Union. ”

“ At the end of this first year, 1790, Attorney-General Edmund Randolph in a report to Congress urging changes in the Judiciary Act also advocated abolition of this Circuit duty, saying: "Those who pronounce the law of the land without appeal ought to be pre-eminent in most endowments of the mind. Survey the functions of a Judge of the Supreme Court. He must be a master of the common law in all its divisions, a Chancellor, a civilian, a Federal jurist and skilled in the laws of each State. ”

“ Its utterance is the guide for the court, which is always subordinate to it, and bound to enforce every law passed by it.39 How different from the authoritative position of the courts in the United States, where there is no department of the government in which sound political views are more valuable than in the judiciary. No lawyer can be found with the requisite strength of mind and character to make a good judge on the Supreme Bench who is not a man of clear, well-defined, and vigorous political opinions. ”

“ With a single judge in the Supreme Court, cases are reviewed quickly while everything is fresh in mind and witnesses and all other evidence is easily obtained, and the decisions of the lower courts either reversed or sustained at once without any lost motion whatever. ”

“ The Honorable William Augustus Atlee, Esquire, was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, on the 15th day of August 1777.
The Honorable John Evans, Esquire, was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, on the 15th day of August 1777. ”

“ If it be true that a judge is entitled to exercise a jurisdiction with impunity, because he himself has decided that he possessed it, then indeed to my mind all distinction of jurisdiction is broken down, and the only rule in future must be the will of the judge, or that he has jurisdiction because he has exercised it. ”

“ As Judge Easterbrook stated, continuation of proceedings in the district court “largely defeats the point of the appeal.” Bradford-Scott, 128 F. 3d, at 505. A right to interlocutory appeal of the arbitrability issue without an automatic stay of the district court proceedings is therefore like a lock without a key, a bat without a ball, a computer without a keyboard—in other words, not especially sensible. ”

“ Where however the writ has no return, there are no facts upon which the judgment of the court can act, nothing to judge of, and therefore no judgment could be rendered. It would be like declaring a blank paper filed, a declaration, and assuming jurisdiction of the subject matter upon the strength of such judgment. Should the writ be lost and it was made to appear that one had issued, then in its absence we might presume in favor of service, but not where there was nothing to show that a writ issued. That would be basing a presumption upon a presumption ”

“ One of the strongest arguments used in support of the jurisdiction of the court is, that as it must necessarily in a greater or less degree be the judge of its own jurisdiction, the fact that it has assumed and exercised such jurisdiction presupposes that it has passed its judgment in favor thereof, and that to hold a judge accountable for an error of judgment could not be sanctioned, as it would strike at the independence of the tribunal itself. ”

“ Rather, as we emphasized in the text, the District Judge could not use Rule 33 to sidestep a pre-existing basic principle of judicial process—that once a final judgment is issued and the court of appeals considers a case, a district court has no power to act on it further. ”

“ The Judges of the Supreme Court of the land must be not only great jurists, they must be great constructive statesmen, and the truth of what I say is illustrated by every study of American statesmanship. ”

“ Article 308 of the Criminal Procedure Act that provides for the principle of free assessment permits the judge to use his discretionary judgment to determine a piece of evidence's probative value, because it is an appropriate way to discover the real truth and it does not mean that the judge's arbitrary judgment shall be quoted, therefore the judge of a de facto trial who holds the absolute right to judging evidence shall consider all recognitions obtained and all evidence investigated in trial procedures in recognizing facts with no exception. ”

“ As little can it be seriously questioned that, inasmuch as all our judges, from the highest to the lowest are lawyers; or ought to be, as they are always ready enough to acknowledge—they constitute the supreme judiciary; another third part of our whole sovereignty as a people. ”

“ The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, and such inferior courts as the general assembly from time to time shall establish. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and three associate judges. ”

“ No judges upon earth ever had such various and important duties to perform, as the justices of the Supreme Court. In England, whence we have derived our laws, they have distinct courts of equity, courts of common law, courts of admiralty, and courts in which the civil law is administered. ”

“ The Judiciary of the United States, though numerically not 2 a large body, reaches through its process every part of the nation; its ascendancy is primarily a moral one; it is kept in conformity with final authority by the machinery of appeal; it is “animated with a common purpose”; its members are “panoplied” with what is practically a life tenure of their posts; and it is “armed with the tremendous weapons” which slay legislation. ”

“ The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric.... An opinion is huddled up in conclave, perhaps by a majority of one, delivered as if unanimous, and with the silent acquiescence of lazy and timid associates, by a crafty chief judge, who sophisticates the law to his mind, by the turn of his own reasoning. ”

“ Public utterances and circulars from Presidents Roosevelt and Taft and from Secretaries of State Root and Knox have pointed out the importance of trying to establish a permanent court, with judges ever present, paid by the associated nations, [343] selected from among men of such a high moral standing as to be above influence of creed or nationality, true citizens of the world, fit magistrates to judge the world. ”

“ The judicial power of the state as to matters of law and equity, except as in the constitution otherwise provided, shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, county courts, justices of the peace, and such other courts as may be provided by law. ”

“ Decisions given upon such principles do not alarm the public so much as they ought, because the consequence and tendency of each particular instance, is not observed or regarded. In the mean time, the practice gains ground; the court of King's Bench becomes a court of equity, and the judge, instead of consulting strictly the law of the land, refers only to the wisdom of the court, and to the purity of his own conscience. The name of Mr. Justice Yates, will naturally revive in your mind some of those emotions of fear and detestation, with which you always beheld him. ”

“ Each branch of the legislature, as well as the supreme executive, shall have authority to require the opinions of the Supreme Judicial Court upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions. ”

“ When looking for a tribunal fitted by its character and recognized authority to act as the great umpire of political parties in determining the result of a disputed Presidential election we find only one—it is the Supreme Court of the United States. ”

“ There is to be one Supreme Court—for chancery, admiralty, common pleas, and exchequer, (which great cases are left in England to four great courts,) to which are added criminal jurisdiction, and all cases depending on the law of nations—a most extensive jurisdiction. This court has more power than any court under heaven. One set of judges ought not to have this power—and judges, particularly, who have temptation always before their eyes. ”

“ The character and capacity of counsel taking part in cases have been elements which require consideration, since the arguments of great jurists and great statesmen command an attention and afford an assistance to the Court which may powerfully affect the trend of the law. [4] The reaction of the people to judicially declared law has been an especially important factor in the development of the country; for while the Judges' decision makes law, it is often the people's view of the decision which makes history. ”

“ The people place the judicial power in the hands of a Supreme Court, Circuit Court, Landrosts, Juries, and such other persons as shall be entrusted with judicial powers, and leave all these free to discharge their function according to their judgment and consciences, according to the laws of the land. ”

“ Finally, it is to be noted that Congress, in its legislation enacted as a residt of judicial decisions, has always played a significant part in relation to the Court. For all these reasons, the true history of the Court must be written not merely from its reported decisions but from the contemporary newspapers, letters, biographies and Congressional debates which reveal its relations to the people, to the States and to Congress, and the reactions of those bodies to its decisions. ”